The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
Dalai Lama

The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living

$9.91
Last updated Sep 23, 2026 at 2:54am
Dalai Lama

About this product

Available for the first time in trade paperback, the multi-million copy bestselling guide to happiness from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. Why is he so popular? Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can't help feeling happier.
If you ask him if he's happy, even though he's suffered the loss of his country, the Dalai Lama will give you an unconditional yes. What's more, he'll tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and that the very motion of our life is toward happiness. How to get there has always been the question. He's tried to answer it before, but he's never had the help of a psychiatrist to get the message across in a context we can easily understand.
The Art of Happiness is the book that started the genre of happiness books, and it remains the cornerstone of the field of positive psychology.
Through conversations, stories, and meditations, the Dalai Lama shows us how to defeat day-to-day anxiety, insecurity, anger, and discouragement. Together with Dr. Howard Cutler, he explores many facets of everyday life, including relationships, loss, and the pursuit of wealth, to illustrate how to ride through life's obstacles on a deep and abiding source of inner peace. Based on 2,500 years of Buddhist meditations mixed with a healthy dose of common sense, The Art of Happiness is a book that crosses the boundaries of traditions to help readers with difficulties common to all human beings. After being in print for ten years, this book has touched countless lives and uplifted spirits around the world. Read more

Editor's Take

Amazon reviewers describe The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living as insightful, inspirational, and useful, with many saying it is simple to understand and offers practical guidance for applying Buddhist ideas to daily life. Amazon reviewers also frequently call it soothing, calming, and a strong introduction to compassion and balanced living.

Goodreads reviewers are similarly split in tone but generally positive overall, with many praising its accessible wisdom and life-changing ideas while some readers feel it is too simple or not deep enough. A few Goodreads comments also note that it can be repetitive or light on depth, but still worthwhile as an introductory self-help or spiritual book.

Inquiring Mind describes it as succeeding in laying out steps toward happiness in some respects, which fits the broader pattern of readers valuing its practicality over philosophical complexity.

YouTube search results turned up videos related to the title, including talks and audiobook-style uploads, but not enough clearly distinct review/unboxing videos to confidently extract verified product-specific video IDs for this book.

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Specifications

Topic Happiness

Product Details

Publisher Riverhead Books
Publication date July 21, 2020
Language English
Print length 336 pages
ISBN-10 1573227544
ISBN-13 978-1573227544
Item Weight 9.2 ounces
Dimensions 5.39 x 0.67 x 8.19 inches
Best Sellers Rank #9,255 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #65 in Meditation (Books) #198 in Spiritual Self-Help (Books) #395 in Personal Transformation Self-Help
Customer Reviews 4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (11,254)

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